Current Graduate Students

Rin Baker
A first-generation student, Rin graduated Summa Cum Laude with their A.A. in Liberal Arts & Humanities, and Summa Cum Laude with their B.A. in English and Education. Their research and writing pertains to the unique experiences and voices of working-class students. Outside of class, find Rin with her three cats, crafting, or watching a horror movie.

Michael Byrns
Michael is from Annapolis, MD and graduated from Williams College in 2018 with a BA in English. His current research interests revolve around postcolonialism, modernism, and the history of the English language novel. Outside of work, he can be found biking the Capital Crescent Trail and convincing people to watch Suits.

Kilmeny Chernys
Kilmeny graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University and is excited to be back on the Hilltop. After working for several nonprofit organizations, she switched paths to pursue her love of literature through a career in publishing. Beginning with the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford University, followed by a stint as a publicist for Viking and Penguin books in New York, she is currently employed by W. W. Norton publishers covering the greater DC area. She enjoys reading almost all genres, discovering new species of plants to add to her growing collection, baking for her family, and watching classic movies.

Miles Cooper
Miles grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia and graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English and a minor in Religious Studies. Before coming to Georgetown, he lived in Atlanta for three years working in management consulting. His academic interests include 20th century American poetry, Southern literature, and exploring the limits of language. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, DJing, and cooking up something good.

Andrew Dickerson
Andrew is from Southern Louisiana. He received his B.A. in English from Dillard University. Before Dillard, he attended Donaldsonville High School where he graduated Salutatorian. At Dillard, he worked closely with and for his dear friends, Dr. Nia Haydel and Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy (the latter of which was Poet Laureate under Bill Clinton). Andrew enjoys exploration and expedition and is just as poised to explore the wilds around a city as much as the city itself.

Hayden Frye
Hayden is originally from Hickory, North Carolina, but has lived in Washington, DC for a decade. He graduated from Georgetown University’s College of Arts & Sciences in 2017 and worked in political and nonprofit communications during the ensuing years. His academic interests include Southern literature and speculative fiction. In his spare time, Hayden enjoys watching movies, pickling, and jogging.

Meghan Gerrity
Meghan is a 5th generation Montanan and logistics officer in the US Army. She holds a BS in Art, Philosophy, and Literature from the United States Military Academy at West Point and MPS in Legislative Affairs from The George Washington University. After work she can be found outside, often hiking, biking, kayaking, and camping with her family.

Zoe Giglio
Zoe is from California’s San Francisco Bay Area and graduated with a double major in English Literature and Liberal Arts with distinction from Bishop’s University. Her academic interests include rhetoric, poetry, short stories and 20th century American Literature. Zoe has spent the majority of her life on the West Coast and is excited and curious to explore what the East Coast has to offer. In her free time, you can find her dreaming up new recipes in the kitchen, long distance running, seeing live music, and backpacking.

Madeline Greathouse
Madeline is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from The College of William and Mary with a B.A. in English. She has lived in D.C. since 2017, where she earned her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and practiced law at a boutique firm in its antitrust practice group. If you come to the city, you likely will see her on a run along The Mall.

Kyra Green
Kyra is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Kenyon College with a BA in Psychology and Sociology in 2017. Kyra moved to the DMV area a year ago after 4.5 years working in Admissions and Multicultural Life at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME. She currently serves as the Inaugural Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Graduate School. When not on campus, you can find Kyra reading a great book, channeling her inner Effie White as she watches Dreamgirls…again, searching for new additions to her vinyl collection or spending time laughing with her community of people.

Rose Grosskopf
Originally from Hyde Park, New York, Rose graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 2020 with a double major in English and Music. Since graduating she has worked as both an organic farmer and a library clerk. She has also been learning Yiddish for the past two years and relearning Latin through singing Gregorian chant. Her current scholarly interests include literary modernism, autobiographical texts in early modern literature, graphic memoirs, and diaries, particularly Holocaust diaries. She enjoys gardening and choral singing in her free time.

Caroline Hannum
Caroline is a graduate of American University where she completed her Bachelor’s in History with a minor in Art History. Before coming to Georgetown she worked for the U.S Senate and Department of Education, as well as spent time on archaeological digs at home and abroad. Her research focuses on the fantastic and the role of women within the genre. Her interest lies in analyzing the fantastic’s capability of being a space in which marginalized persons can deconstruct and reclaim their authority. 

Isabel Harmet
Isabel grew up in San Diego, California, and graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 2021. She majored in English with a specialization in Irish literature, and she minored in philosophy. Her research interests include nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish and American literature, specifically Gothic and romantic works. In her free time, Isabel enjoys reading and writing poetry, and exploring local music and art scenes in different cities. Her biggest creative goal is to publish a book of her poems alongside her photography.

Isabella “Bella” Heick
Bella grew up in Great Falls, Virginia. She graduated from Marymount University with a degree in English specializing in writing and a minor in Politics. Her current research interests include contemporary literature, and feminist and gender theory. Outside of school Bella is interested in reading, playing tennis, equestrian, and watching hockey.

Olivia Hernandez
Olivia grew up in Miami, Florida. She graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2023 with her B.A. in English and Advertising. Her academic interests include 19th century Gothic Literature, Queer Literature, and Fantasy works. Outside of class, she enjoys writing, playing video games, and spending time with her cat, Gylfie.

Tuong Vy Hoang
Vy graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in the History of Art and Architecture and a minor in English. Her academic interests include the motif of transience in art and literature, the relationship between historical preservation and community, and cultural themes in East/Southeast Asian fiction, particularly in terms of tropes and what they represent. Off the clock, she enjoys reading web comics and album reviews, café hopping, and relying too much on curtain bangs as an accessory.

Rebecca Hollman
Rebecca was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in English and Sociology. Since then, she has raised over $1.4 million for the justice-focused nonprofit MENTORS Inc. as a grant writer. Rebecca is currently a TA for the Georgetown Prison Scholars Program and is passionate about criminal justice reform. In that same vein, her research interests pertain to Southern Gothic Literature and cultural haunting. Outside of work Rebecca enjoys playing softball, listening to podcasts, and baking sweet treats.

Desi Isaacson
Desi is originally from Portland, Maine. In 2020, he graduated from Washington University in St. Louis where he majored in English Literature with a focus in Creative Writing and a minor in Philosophy. His writing and research focuses on the relationship between shame and humor in postmodern fiction. Desi has worked at several journalism publications, including as a food writer at the Riverfront Times in St. Louis and currently as a contributing writer for GOLF.com. He is also a professional podcast producer and a licensed drone pilot. You can follow him on twitter @desisaacson.

Astiya Ixangaliyeva
Astiya is originally from Astana, Kazakhstan, where it snows seven months a year. She received her B.A. in Communications from Temple University, Japan Campus. Her academic interests include teaching creative writing, literature from ESL authors, Central Asian and translated fiction, and fantasy novels. Outside of writing and reading, she is an active language learner and an avid anime enjoyer.

Dave Jefferson
Dave is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having traveled and lived around the globe extensively as a child. Ask him where he is from, and he might reply Cologne, Senegal, Islamabad, Karachi, Rome, Boston, Palm Springs, or Washington, D.C. — all places he’s called home. A graduate of Boston University (B.A., Political Science), his academic interests are character-driven literary works that blend the real with the surreal and have story at the heart. His thesis, “Where Are You From?: Identity and Rootlessness in Postmodern Literature,” focuses on issues of global identity, multiculturalism, and transnationalism. A glance at his bookshelf reveals works from Zadie Smith, J.M. Coetzee, V.S. Naipaul, Jhumpa Lahiri, and other authors. When his nose is not stuck between the pages of a book, Dave consults on business and technology strategy for the Federal government.

Morgan-Ann Kalin
Morgan-Ann graduated from Iona College in 2021, where she received a B.A. in English and Media & Strategic Communication. She recently moved to Washington from a small town in New York, which, she passionately defends, is not upstate. Morgan is particularly interested in the works of John Milton and will convince anyone of his position as an accidental feminist. Outside of the classroom, Morgan-Ann enjoys going to museums, finding cozy coffee shops, and traveling far and wide with her dog, Goose.

Chase Kupinsky
Chase is from Belchertown, Massachusetts and he graduated from Springfield College in 2023 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Environmental Studies. His research interests include World Literature, British Literature, and Environmental Literature. He is a Teaching Assistant for the Community Scholars Program. An avid world soccer fan, Chase also enjoys traveling, visiting cultural heritage sites, going to museums, trying new cuisines, playing baseball and mountain biking.

Sarah Licht
Sarah is from Titusville, Florida and graduated from Grinnell College in 2022 with a B.A. in English and Psychology. Their research interests include late Romantic writers, femininity theory, and the intersection between medicine and literature. In their spare time, Sarah enjoys reading oversized fantasy novels, playing video games, and finding new places to buy coffee.

Mostafa Mahmood
Mostafa is originally from Upper Egypt and has lived in the DMV area for four years. Mostafa received B.A in English Language and Literature from Aswan University in 2011, and in 2014 he received a Diploma in Teaching Methodologies. In 2018 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to work as an Arabic TA at The Catholic University of America. His research focuses on Class Mobility in American Literature in the nineteenth century. In his free time, Mostafa enjoys playing soccer, swimming, attending stand-up comedy shows, and meeting new people. His favorite comedians are George Carlin and Dave Chappelle.

Pearl Parker
Pearl is a Maryland native. She graduated from Andrews University in 2022 with a BA in English and a minor in marketing. Before coming to Georgetown, she interned at Education Week in their Marketing and Events department. In her free time, she enjoys reading, visiting botanical gardens, and filming natural hair tutorials.

Mallory Payne
Mallory graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English and a B.A. Political Science from the University of Georgia. Their academic interests include poetics, the late Romantic poets, 20th-century modernist poetry in English and in translation, experimental poetry, and cinema studies. In her spare time, Mallory enjoys reading manga and unsettling literary fiction, live music, playing video games, and hanging out with her cat, Worm.

Kavita Premkumar
Kavita Premkumar is from Bangalore, India, and graduated from Wheaton College, MA in 2021, where she majored in English Literature and minored in Education. Her research interests include 19th century British Literature, Children’s Literature and Modern Irish Literature. She is a Teaching Assistant for the Community Scholars Program and the current Director of Academic Affairs for GradGov. She is a Leo Sun, Leo Rising, Taurus Moon.

Colleen Reynolds
Colleen Reynolds is a poet and academic originally from New York City. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston College in 2017 with a B.A. in English, and received her M.F.A. in Poetry from Columbia University in 2022. Her interests span critical and creative domains, tending towards a formalist approach and love of mixed media in contemporary poetics. Her research interests include Victorian Culture, British Modernism, and 20th century American Literature, with a focus on themes of embodiment, gender & sexuality, and transgenerational trauma.

Jamira Richardson
Jamira grew up on three different continents, but she considers San Antonio, Texas, her hometown. In 2020, she graduated summa cum laude from St. Mary’s University with a B.A. in English Literature and Language. Her research interests include maternal sacrifice and self-determination in gynocentric neo-slave narratives, folkloric motifs and linguistic patterns in the work of Toni Morrison, and contemporary Female Gothic literature.

Mekita Rivas
Originally from Nebraska, Mekita earned her undergraduate degrees in journalism and English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She was previously an editor at Cosmopolitan and a senior contributing fashion editor at PopSugar and Bustle. Her writing has been published in dozens of publications including The New York Times, Vogue, Harper’s BAZAAR, Women’s Health, Refinery29, and others. In addition to her editorial experience, she’s worked as a copywriter, editor, and strategist for various brands and nonprofits. She is currently working on her first novel; her research interests include creative writing, journalistic nonfiction, digital media cultures, and transnational literature.

Avery Rosen
Avery grew up on Long Island, NY, and graduated from Binghamton University in 2021 with a double major in English and Cinema. With a particular interest in Gothic and Weird fiction, a significant focus of her undergraduate studies regarded 19th and 20th century literature. Avery also has a deep passion for film, particularly film theory, and the role women have in the film industry. In addition to reading and watching movies, she also adores painting and writing poetry.

Sam Straessle
Sam Straessle is from Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Sewanee: The University of the South in 2022 with a BA in English, a minor in Politics, and a Certificate in Civic and Global Leadership. His academic interests include 20th century American poetry, 19th century British literature, and memoir. This year, he will work as a Teaching Assistant at Georgetown’s Prison and Justice Initiative. Outside of the classroom, Sam enjoys hiking, playing soccer, and embracing the outdoors.

Molly Sullivan
Molly is originally from a small town in Westchester, New York. Molly received her B.A. in English and minor in History from Duke University in 2019. Outside of reading and writing, Molly’s interests include playing piano, running long distance, and cooking.

Halle Trang
Halle is a California native, having grown up in Los Angeles and graduating from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019 with a degree in English and a minor in Education. Her research interests include writing pedagogy, postcolonial theory, and Contemporary Literature with an emphasis on Asian American texts. She is a Teaching Assistant for the Community Scholars Program, and when she is not working or studying at a local coffee shop, you can find her cooking/baking, exploring museums, or volunteering with K-12 youth in various after school programs.

Andrew Van Wagoner
Andrew grew up in McAllen, Texas. He earned his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, where he majored in English, minored in Rhetoric, and earned a certificate in Creative Writing. He’s excited to return to academia after working in education. When it comes to literature, he’s currently interested in magical realism, fantasy, and sci-fi. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, unwinding with video games, or catching a movie (when he’s not reading or writing, of course).

Isaiah Washington
Isaiah grew up in Hanover, Pennsylvania. He graduated summa cum laude from American University with a B.A. in Literature. His current research interests include the liberatory function of water imagery in Black American narratives as well as speculative fiction with a focus on Afrofuturism and the use of synthetic lifeforms as metaphors for marginalized communities. Isaiah can often be found penning poems, drafting news stories, and volunteering in the community.

Maya White
Maya is from Sacramento California and graduated from the University of California Davis with a BA in English and a minor in Political Science. Her research interests pertain to BIPOC Representation, erasure, and spectatorship in academia. Her hobbies outside of studying include rewatching the same TV shows over and over, taking long walks, and discovering new music.

Ellie Yaeger
Ellie received her BA in American Studies with a minor in Art History from Georgetown in 2017. Her academic interests include 20th century American literature, autofiction, aesthetics, historiography, writing by and about women, feminist theory, film studies, and the pedagogy of teaching both writing and history. She is particularly interested in shifting definitions of art and the obscene in analysis of literature, fine art, and pornography. When not working or studying, Ellie enjoys creating decoupage with mid-century magazines, baking cakes, taking ambling walks through the woods, and talking on the phone. She returns to her hometown of Dallas, Texas, every October for the State Fair.

June Yoon
June grew up in Seoul, Korea and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Hanyang University with a B.A. in English and Theatre/Film. Before joining Georgetown, she worked as a writer’s assistant on a Netflix drama. Her research interests include postcolonial theory, representation of class, sci-fi novels and films. In her spare time, she enjoys casually walking around and searching for new coffee places.